I have an idea: replace debug information on the loading window with some random quotes of a famous astronomers, scientists, philosophers about Universe and science. Examples:

I have deep faith that the principle of the universe will be beautiful and simple. - Albert EinsteinImagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl SaganScience is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - Carl SaganAstronomy compels the soul to look upward, and leads us from this world to another. - PlatoThe purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens. - Anaxagoras

So, type here quotes you like or found in the internet. We can make a poll later on, to choose few dozens of them. Keep in mind that all quotes must be translated into other languages supported by SE (they are probably will be stored in the localization files). It's important to find an 'official' translations, so if you are not from US, GB and other English-speaking country, post the translated version of the quote as well (and don't forgot to type what language is it).

Pretty cool idea! But I don't think removing the debug information completely is a good idea, since it would be hard to tell whether the game's stuck or still loading. For instance, the long waiting caused by shader compilation would confuse many new users. Perhaps it's better to replace it with progress bar/animation if you really want to get rid of it.

Ostarisk wrote:

Or, we could have some "understandable" debug lines in there, e.g: Forming the universe, Adding life, Preparing spaceships, etc.

That's a great idea, SpaceEngineer, but please make it optional. Sometimes it's useful to know in what part of the loading process we are. StarStuff, is right, and so is Ostarisk: on occasion those debug lines could use some tweaking to be understood by the non-initiated. Over time, most people will get to understand what they mean, but that's not often the case in the first program runs, which is precisely when they are more useful.

Personally I like to see what the program is doing when it starts, but I see SpaceEngineer's point of view. Typical game users don't need those infos, if I can infer something from my IT experience, they need some visuals regarding the loading stage, like a progress bar. There's the se.log for those debugging informations, anyway.

Quotes from famous scientists and artists regarding the universe could help underlining the scientific accuracy that's the main value of the engine.

"The total number of stars in the universe is larger than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the planet Earth.""We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.""Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.""The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.""When we look up at night and view the stars, everything we see is shining because of distant nuclear fusion.""Every star may be a sun to someone.""The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean.""A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject.""Science is an ongoing process. It never ends. There is no single ultimate truth to be achieved, after which all the scientists can retire. And because this is so, the world is far more interesting,""But if we do not destroy ourselves, I believe that we will one day venture to the stars."

I'm going to submit my own quote. Tell me if it's it good."Humans live on the massive Earth. Earth resides in the expansive and mostly empty Solar System. Everything in the Solar System orbits the Sun. And the Sun is just another faint star in the night sky"

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." - Douglas Adams

Since this could so easily turn into a Sagan quote fest, since he had an enormous number of wonderful and eloquent quotes, I think we should focus on finding quotes from people OTHER than Sagan. Not as fun or as easy, I know, but we really should have quotes from a diverse range of people.

On that note, it would be a good idea to try to hunt down quotes that aren't from Europeans, to prevent the quotes from being too Eurocentric. There are doubtless great quotes to be found from Chinese philosophers, Islamic astronomers, etc.